This dog will help FBI take bite out of cyber crime in New Jersey

In the fight against cyber crime, the FBI in New Jersey's new tool has four legs, a tail and enjoys playing fetch.

Iris, an 18-month-old black Labrador, just graduated from the Connecticut State Police Academy and officially joined the FBI’s Newark Division on Monday.

According to Michael Brodack, assistant special agent in charge of the state FBI’s White Collar and Cyber Crime Division, Iris has been trained to sniff out electronic devices, “whether it be thumb drives or any type of electronic equipment that is hidden by a person who doesn’t want anybody else to find it.”

He said having a cyber dog will help in all sorts of different investigations.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be a cyber-crime case, it could be any type of violent crime case as well, or a white-collar crime, even — if there’s any inclination that the subject of the investigation may be hiding a thumb-drive for example,” said Brodack.

He explained once a search warrant is issued “we may bring Iris with us in the event we don’t find certain electronic materials that we believe the subject would have and had used in this criminal activity.”

So how can a dog sniff out electronics?

Brodack said Iris has been trained to detect “specific chemicals that are common to the manufacturing of almost all types of electronic equipment.”

When Iris successfully finds what she’s looking for, her reward is dinner.

“Even when she’s not working she’ll train, and when she finds the electronic equipment that happens to be the lost piece of electronics that day, then she’ll be fed,” he said

He was quick to add Iris is very good at her job, so having regular meals is not a problem.

“We will try to use any tool that we can that will help us take criminals off the streets, and this is just one of many tools that we now have at our disposal,” he said. “It will help us collect evidence against those people who are the subjects of our investigations, to make our case stronger.”